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闲聊 (xián liáo) — to chat, to have a casual conversation

Definition

verb
to chatto have a casual conversation

Examples

  • 闲聊。
    Wǒ men xià wǔ kě yǐ zài kā fēi guǎn xián liáo yí huì r.
    We can chat for a while at the café this afternoon.
  • 闲聊。
    Tā xǐ huan zài wēi xìn shàng hé péng you men xián liáo.
    He likes to chat with friends on WeChat.
  • 闲聊。
    Shàng kè qián dà jiā zǒng shì xiān xián liáo jǐ jù.
    Before class, everyone always chats for a few sentences first.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

闲xiáncasual
聊liáochat

闲 means casual, idle and 聊 means chat; together they mean chatting.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 閒; 闲 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 閒 puts 月 (moon) inside 門 (door), as if moonlight peeks through a door; this picture gives the idea of a gap or space. The simplified 闲 is a later abbreviation.

Open 闲 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
耳耳ěrear
Sound part声符shēngfú
卯
卯mǎo聊liáo
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

聊 shows 耳 (ear) beside 卯, which gives the sound. Its original meaning was tinnitus.

Open 聊 →
Appears in
Communication & Speech

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